Agent: Molotov cocktail caused fatal Troy arson

Published
7:23 pm EDT, Friday, July 13, 2018

Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia presides over the retrial of Richard J. Wright for his previous conviction for murder and arson which he has spent 32 years in jail Monday July 9, 2018 at the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) less

Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia presides over the retrial of Richard J. Wright for his previous conviction for murder and arson which he has spent 32 years in jail Monday July 9, 2018 at the Rensselaer ... more

Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia presides over the retrial of Richard J. Wright for his previous conviction for murder and arson which he has spent 32 years in jail Monday July 9, 2018 at the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) less

Supreme Court Judge Andrew Ceresia presides over the retrial of Richard J. Wright for his previous conviction for murder and arson which he has spent 32 years in jail Monday July 9, 2018 at the Rensselaer ... more

TROY – A Molotov cocktail was probably thrown three decades ago onto the second-floor back porch of a Lansingburgh apartment by the man now facing a retrial, a federal agent testified in Friday's murder-arson case.

Senior Special Agent Mark Meeks, an ATF agent who investigates arsons nationally and internationally, explained his new investigation of the Sept. 1, 1986 case and conclusions that led him to Richard J. Wright, facing a bench trial on four counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson. The fire killed two sleeping teenage girls.

A broken beer bottle, the fire that destroyed the rear of 17 108th St., Wright’s confession to a friend while getting high by smoking crack cocaine and witnesses’ testimony resulted in Meeks’ conclusion, and pulled together the case Special Prosecutor Jasper Mills had built over five days in court.

Wright, 50, was convicted by a jury in 1988 of starting the fire that killed Tara Gilbert, 14, and Meredith Pipino, 13 as they slept after spending the day at an amusement park. In October 2017, State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia threw out Wright's conviction and sentence of 25 years to life. His decision was based on motions by defense attorney Michael P. McDermott that argued developments in scientific technology exposed the methods used by the original arson investigators as being unable to prove that an accelerant, believed to be gasoline, was used in the fire.

Ceresia is hearing the case and will render a verdict at its conclusion. The judge spent Friday facing Meeks, the sole witness called Friday, as he testified.

The cause of the fire, Meeks said, was "the use of an incendiary device, specifically a Molotov cocktail," applied to the rear porch of the second floor of 17 108th Street."

Meeks is a senior agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He’s based locally, but also works for the bureau’s National Response Team and International Response Team investigating major arson cases worldwide.

Meeks said his investigation ruled out that the fire could have started in any other part of the two-story building. A broken beer bottle found by Troy police after the fire probably contained the gas used to create the Molotov cocktail, he said. Witnesses said there were not bottles stored on the porch or backyard 32 years ag0.

Meeks then added Martin “Danny” Williams’ testimony Thursday in which he stated that Wright confessed to throwing a Molotov cocktail.

The 30-year-old testimony of Barbara Gilber, who has died since the original trial, that was read into the record described hearing a crashing noise on the porch and the flash of the fire consuming the porch. Gilbert was Tara’s mother.

Then, Meeks said, testimony by Jeannine Giroux-Holland of Wright standing at the foot of the stairs to her 14 ½ 108th St. home watching 17 108th St. burn placed him at the scene immediately after the fire started.

During cross-examination, McDermott pressed Meeks on his investigative technique, the discovery of new witnesses and the quality of the investigative work performed by the Troy police and fire departments.

“This is an unusual type of case, Mr. McDermott. This is the first time I’ve ever done a case this old,” Meeks said.

McDermott noted that the Troy arson investigators determined the fire started at the rear of the first floor. Meeks strongly defended his conclusion that the fire began on the second-floor rear porch and burned into the building interior and downward to envelop the first-floor rear porch.